More than four million Syrians homeless due to conflict: UN report

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A third of Syria's housing stock and thousands of schools have been destroyed during the conflict, forcing some 4.25 million people to abandon their homes and 2 million children to drop out of class, UN data and statements said on Tuesday.

The homeless are mostly women, children and the elderly who fled their homes with no personal effects and are staying with other families, who are themselves surviving on very limited resources. More than 2 million more have left the country.

Nearly 200,000 others are in overcrowded communal centers without clean water, electricity or sanitation, according to a report by Chaloka Beyani, the UN independent expert on the rights of internally displaced people.

It said 1.2 million houses have been destroyed in the conflict that began in March 2011. According to UN estimates, more than 100,000 people have been killed in the past two and a half years in Syria.

More than 3,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed and almost 1,000 more are being used to house displaced people, UN children's agency UNICEF said.

UNICEF says 2 million children have dropped out of school and a total of 4 million children are affected by the conflict, including 1 million who are now refugees.

"Parents say their children are experiencing frequent nightmares, they are behaving recklessly and aggressively and their drawings are often angry, violent and full of images of bloodshed, explosions or destruction," UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said.

The psychological damage means children can lose the ability to connect to others, Jane MacPhail, a UNICEF expert working in Jordan's Zaatari refugee camp, said in a statement.

"Basic feelings can stop and children find themselves unable to think ahead or remember recent events," she said.

Many children, especially girls, do not go to school due to a climate of insecurity and fear of attacks, Leila Zerrougui, UN Special Representative on children and armed conflict, said in a report to the UN Human Rights Council.

"In addition, armed groups have interfered in school curricula," she said in the report, without elaborating.

The fighting has also damaged civil infrastructure. A pipeline taking water to 1.3 million people in Hama and parts of Homs has been out of action since being damaged in heavy clashes almost a month ago.

"The pipeline is not fixed yet. There is lots of work under way to get water to people through trucking and other ways," UNICEF's Mercado said.

(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2013-09-11 04:14.

Syrians I am so sorry and I truly mean that!! I am a citizen of a western country and I am 100% against what the government of my country is doing to yours.The citizens of America and others are basically held captive by the same group of terrorist that are really behind the chaos in Syria.Israel totally controls the government of America,England,France and many others and the citizens have no say at all.Syrians please know there are many other people in western countries like me who are against what is being done to your country too.Again I am so sorry.